VoxTalks Economics
VoxTalks Economics
VoxTalks
S9 Ep5: Is US debt sustainable?
18 minutes Posted Jan 21, 2026 at 11:00 am.
0:00
18:40
Download MP3
Show notes

Another special episode recorded at the CEPR annual symposium in Paris.

When does the level of debt in the US become a problem for the economy, and for ordinary Americans? And when it does, what are the policy options to fix it?

That’s the topic of a Chapter in the CEPR book. The authors are Ugo Panizza of the Graduate Institute, Geneva and CEPR, and Antonio Fatás of INSEAD and CEPR. They talk to Tim Phillips about how recent policy – notably the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – is blowing up US debt and warn that the administration can’t keep kicking the can down the road for ever.